THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



7T9 



with two division-boards to keep the 

 bees in the middle of the hive diirinf; 

 winter : then it is packed with dry 

 leaves behind the division-boards, 

 putting two strips of cotton-eloth 

 over them, and liiled with leaves on the 

 top 10 inches hiuh. with a straw mat 

 on top to keep the leaves down, and a 

 roof with an inch hole in both ends 

 so the air can pass through. I also 

 pack leaves outside at the rear from 

 top to bottom ; the entrance of the 

 hive is .5 inches long by % of an inch 

 deep ; an inch hole is about 5 inches 

 above the entrance, and the hives are 

 set facing southward. 



Henky Ekbiiotd. 

 La IIarpe,K5 111.. Nov, 23, iSSi. 



Bee-Eeepiug in Louisiana. 



This year, my yield from Ifw colo- 

 nies, spring count, is 11,800 pounds of 

 extracted honey, and 650 pounds of 

 comb honey in one pound sections. I 

 increased my apiary , by natural swarm- 

 ing, to 240 colonies. I live on the 

 bank of the Red river, which over- 

 flowed twice during this year, and 

 caused me a great loss. The water 

 was 2 feet deep in my bee-yard, and I 

 had to put my hives upon rail pens. 

 iNearme there are over 1.000 colonies 

 of bees on a circle whose radius is 

 four miles. 



Wm. J. Dawson. 



Dixons XEoads,"oLa.,Nov.l.5, 1884. 



Nicest Honey of the Season. 



On Nov. 17 I shipped 110 crates of 

 comb honey by freight to Chicago ; 

 and on Nov. 22, our consignee wrote 

 as follows : " The honey arrived in 

 good order, and is the nicest lot of 

 honey I have had this season." It 

 was produced without separators. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, 68—94. 



Kogersville,d Mich., Nov. 27, 1884. 



Bees Flying. 



We have had line weather during 

 the last two days. The butterflies 

 are out again, and the bees are flying 

 everywhere. As we had two light 

 snow storms, and I had my hive en- 

 trances opened full width for winter, 

 I had to partly close them this morn- 

 ing. Many bee-keepers have their 

 bees in cellars, and now they are 

 missing a good flight. The honey- 

 flow was cut off very early here, still 

 I obtained 3,000 pounds from .55 colo- 

 nies, many first swarms having gath- 

 ered no surplus. I would like to say, 

 in justice to Mr. Heddon, that I think 

 that the very dry season had a good 

 deal to do with the strange intercourse 

 of some of my swarms, after working 

 on his plan, in trying to rob and 

 not being properly recognized as 

 strangers. My bees have bred none 

 since August, and they will be seven 

 months old before repl.ace, which will 

 test the late breeding pretty well. 

 Will Mr. Deadman. of (jntario. please 

 state how many colonies he has at 

 present? His method of wintering 

 bees ought to be attended with suc- 

 cess ; but his way of feeding will soon 

 be dropped,! tliink. 



C. Mitchell. 



Molesworth, Ont., Nov. 17, 1884. 



Bees Ready for Winter. 



On Nov. IS, I placed my bees in the 

 cellar, all being in fine condition, and 

 each colony having from 25 to 35 

 l>onnds of well sealed honey. Since 

 that time we have had cold, rough 

 weather. F. M. Taintor. 



Elm Grove, ~o Mass., Nov. 26, 1884. 



An Italianized Apiary. 



This has been a very poor season 

 for the apiarist, in this section at 

 least, except he esteems his experi- 

 ence of sufficient value to compensate 

 him fot his time, trouble and outlay. 

 There was an abundance of fruit 

 bloom and white clover ; but a dearth 

 of nectar in the flowers, all through 

 the season, especially so in the earlier 

 months. I had 17 colonies to com- 

 mence with in the spring, and I had 

 but 2 natural swarms, and 2 made by 

 division. Some of my bees did so 

 poorly that they had to be fed until 

 Aug.], to prevent starvation; since 

 that date they have gathered enough 

 honey to winter on, by taking from 

 the richer ones and helping the 

 poorer. I obtained perhaps .50 pounds 

 of surplus honey from all. While 

 there was no honey being stored, I 

 thought it a good time to Italianize 

 my colonies. I had a tested Italian 

 qiieen from last season, and this sea- 

 son I reared and successfully intro- 

 duced 20 young Italian queens. By 

 screening the black drones out, be- 

 fore introducing the young queens. I 

 think that most of them are purely 

 mated. So, if it is an advantage to 

 have young queens in an apiary, I 

 will be favorably equipped in that re- 

 spect next spring, if I succeed in 

 wintering them. J. A. Black. 



Pleasant Mound, 9 111., Nov. 24, 1884. 



Do Bees Hibernate? 



As this subject is now considerably 

 agitating the minds of bee- keepers, I 

 desire to give my experience on the 

 subject. Several winters ago, while 

 in the woods, my foot broke tlirough 

 the earth about half knee-deep. I 

 examined the opening in the ground 

 and in it I found a nest about the size 

 of a gallon crock. In the nest was 

 what people in the West call a prairie 

 grey squirrel, which was hibernating; 

 i. e., it was neither dead nor alive. It 

 was curled up in a circular form and 

 after I would straighten it out it 

 would curl up again. It did not breathe 

 and its heart did not beat. I took it 

 to the house and placed it on the 

 hearth, occasionally turned it around, 

 and in a few moments it came to life, 

 as you might say, and was as lively as 

 anything I have ever seen. Now is 

 this uota perfect example of hiberna- 

 tion y My experience teaches me that 

 it is not natural for bees to hibernate, 

 yet they may go into this condition 

 when compelled to from exposure, 

 and that they will remain in this con- 

 dition for 4S hours if not exposed to a 

 temperature of 32'^ ; and so I claim 

 that it is not natural for bees to hiber- 

 nate, but exposure causes them to do 

 so. I have experimented with those 

 chilled or hibernating bees, having 

 taken full colonies into the house and 



warmed them just as I did with the' 

 squirrel, and this fall, in getting the- 

 bees to carry honey from the upper to 

 the lower story of the hive, on the 

 empty combs in the upper story, on a 

 frosty morning, I found small bunches 

 of bees which to all appearances were 

 dead ; cut after being warmed they 

 would revive, and in every such case 

 of reviving they would show signs of 

 bee-diarrh(ea ; some worse than others, 

 owing to the length of time which 

 they had been chilled. What I am 

 trying to get at is this : Do bee» 

 which winter on the inside of a clus- 

 ter, at a temperature of 80^ to 100° 

 above zero, ever have bee-diarrhoea ?' 

 I think not. I am satisfied that the 

 young bees winter in the center of 

 the cluster, and I have found by ex- 

 periment that the temperature on the 

 outside of the cluster is from 70'^ to 

 80' lower than that of the center. 



Wm. Malone. 

 Oakley, ? Iowa, Nov. 22, 1884. 



Keeping Bees on Shares. 



Will Mr. Heddon please give his 

 opinion on taking bees on the shares, 

 or oil what condition bees are gen- 

 erally let V One man offered me 100- 

 colonies, last spring, on the following 

 conditions; I was to take the lOO- 

 colonies and buy 100 new hives com- 

 plete for $4 each, for the swarnra, and 

 I was to receive half of the honey and 

 half of the swarms ; and in the fall 

 he was to take the 100 colonies which 

 he let me have in the spring, half of 

 the honey, and half of the swarms, 

 making the new hives cost me $8- 

 each. I proposed to take his bees in 

 this way : I was to take the KX) colo- 

 nies in tlie spring on the same condi- 

 tions as above, except that he was to- 

 furnish half of the hives and I the 

 other half. T. W. Douc^herty. 



Princeton, 5 III., Nov. 24, 1884. 



Report for 1884. 



Last winter, out of 31 colonies I 

 lost one, and from the remaining 30, 

 this season, I have received 800 lbs. of 

 comb honey in one-lb. sections and 20O 

 lbs. of extracted. I had .50 swarms, 

 and I am going to try to winter 35 col- 

 onies in my cellar this winter. 



.John L. Davis. 



Holt, O Mich., Nov. 2.5, 1884. 



t^ Mr. D. A. Jones of Beeton, 

 Ont. has sent us a copy of his Winter 

 Catalogue for 1884. It contains 32 

 pages, and is well printed. 



1^ Our rates for two or more- 

 copies of the book, " Bees and Honey," 

 may be found on the Book List on 

 the second page of this paper.. Also 

 wholesale rates on all books where 

 they are purchased " to sell again." 

 The time for reading up will soon be 

 here, and in anticipation of this, we 

 now have a very large stock of books 

 on hand, and can fill orders for them 

 in any quantity, on receipt of orders- 



